10 biggest gold mines of the world

10 biggest gold mines of the world

Gold has been a valuable and highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts long before the beginning of recorded history.

A total of 165,000 tonnes of gold have been mined so far.

There are differences of opinion about which gold mine should be ranked 1. Some consultants say the world's largest gold mine, by production, is the Muruntau gold mine in Uzbekistan while others think it is the Grasberg gold mine in Indonesia.

Among the most valuable sources for gold mining production data, besides reports from mining companies themselves, are the Raw Materials Group in Solna, Sweden; Canada's Metals Economics Group in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Intierra Resource Intelligence, based in Perth, Australia.

Ibtimes.com recently came up with a list of the 10 biggest gold mines in the world, based on 2010 production data available. Read on. . .

Image: An employee shows a golden panda ingot at a gold store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China.Photographs: ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

10 biggest gold mines of the world

It is run by Newmont Mining and owned by Newmont Mining and Buenaventurda, a Peruvian company.

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Image: Gold and turquoise house plaque representing animals from the first century, discovered in 1978 on the archeological site of Tillia Tepe (northern Afghanistan).Photographs: Francois Durand/Getty Images

10 biggest gold mines of the world

Image: 'Chess of the Middle Ages' exhibit, made of gold, silver and other jewelry, is displayed during the Junwex. Petersburg jewellery exhibition in St. Petersburg,Photographs: Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters